Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

Refining

Deliver sustainable benefits through site-wide process digital twins

Saudi Aramco: Bazuher, E. A.
KBC, a Yokogawa Company: Chellani, J.

Refiners have used offline process models for decades. The next generation of solutions is anticipated to operate automatically, integrate with legacy systems and provide transparency site-wide.  

Prompt engineering: Extracting operational excellence knowledge from AI—Part 1

CEPSA: Larraz, R.

Prompt engineering is an emerging discipline at the intersection of AI and process engineering and will undoubtedly contribute to the hydrocarbon and green molecules processing industries. Parts 1 and 2 (October 2024) of this article explore and provide a glimpse of how this technique can help process engineers and operators to manage the power of advanced AI models to optimize processes, contribute to solve complex problems, and improve operational efficiency in refineries and petrochemical plants.  

Seven tips to achieve a smoother plant turnaround

Swagelok: Aughenbaugh, M.

This article provides seven best practices that should be kept in mind for successful plant turnaround management. 

Monitoring cyclone reliability in fluid catalytic crackers

Honeywell UOP: Jawandhiya, A.  |  Panchal, D.  |  Gellaboina, M. K.

The authors’ company has developed a novel approach with a digital algorithm to effectively estimate the current cyclone erosion and predict future erosion based on operating conditions. With this approach, refiners get an automatic way to better predict abrasion lining erosion for both reactors and regenerator cyclones daily from digital analytics, thus helping refiners quantify their monitoring.

Rio Tinto pilots Pongamia seed oil as a feedstock for renewable diesel

Rio Tinto will develop Pongamia seed farms in Australia as part of a new biofuels pilot. The project will explore the potential of Pongamia seed oil as a feedstock for renewable diesel.

Russia's Gazprom Neftekhim petrochemical plant announces major maintenance

Russia's Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat oil processing, petrochemical and fertilizer complex located in the Bashkortostan region has announced major maintenance.

SAFFiRE Renewables breaks ground on SAF pilot plant in Kansas (U.S.)

The SAFFiRE plant, located at Conestoga Energy's Arkalon Energy facility in Liberal, Kansas, will ultimately be capable of processing 10 tons of corn stover daily, yielding cellulosic ethanol that can be upgraded into SAF with a carbon footprint at least 83% lower than conventional jet fuel.

LanzaTech signs MLA with SEKISUI to develop multiple commercial-scale waste-to-ethanol plants across Japan

LanzaTech Global has signed a Master License Agreement with SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO. to deploy, at commercial scale, a jointly developed platform that converts syngas derived from municipal solid waste and industrial solid waste into ethanol.

Chinese court declares another Sinochem refinery bankrupt

A Chinese court has declared bankrupt a third refinery owned by state oil and chemical group Sinochem, a court document showed. The Changyi city court also ended reorganization procedures at the refinery, Shandong Changyi Petrochemical.

Catalytic cracker, distillation units at Venezuela's Amuay refinery resume operations

A catalytic cracker and two distillation units at Venezuela's Amuay refinery, the country's largest, have resumed operations following a power interruption earlier this month.